Navigation

Reliability Percentranks: Brand Averages - 1988 to 1998

The Car Reliability Percentrank Averages of the Major Car Lines Sold in North America in Model Years 1988 to 1998

The following table provides the Car Reliability Percentrank Averages for the major car brands with sales in North America from the late 1980s to the late 1990s. Brands are grouped by car manufacturer. The order of the car manufacturers is that found in the original tables of 2002.

The Car Reliability Percentrank Average rates automobile lines of a given model year on a scale from 0.00 (the Worst) to 1.00 (the Best). The Car Reliability Percentrank is based on the reported frequency of serious problems in nearly each trouble spot category used by Consumer Reports.

This measure of car line reliability was one of the first used to rate brands of 6-to-8-year-old motor vehicles from model years 1988 to 1998. It appears here as it has been a popular method for rating the auto quality of a line and helps in narrowing the search for a reliable automobile from the 1990s and late 1980s.

The Car Reliability Percentrank Averages for the Major Car Lines from Model Years 1988 to 1998

ID

Car Manufacturer

Car Line

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

6

Toyota Motor Corporation

Lexus

0.95

0.89

0.97

0.94

0.94

0.96

0.95

0.98

0.98

28

Toyota Motor Corporation

Toyota

0.92

0.91

0.89

0.90

0.88

0.88

0.91

0.91

0.92

0.91

0.88

34

Honda Motor Company

Acura

0.93

0.88

0.98

0.98

0.93

0.82

0.93

0.90

0.91

0.84

0.90

43

Honda Motor Company

Honda

0.89

0.92

0.88

0.95

0.89

0.93

0.81

0.80

0.81

0.93

0.94

52

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (Subaru)

Subaru

0.72

0.52

0.81

0.82

0.87

0.91

0.88

0.83

0.78

0.82

0.80

57

Nissan Motor Company

Infiniti

0.80

0.81

0.80

0.86

0.89

0.85

0.95

0.86

70

Nissan Motor Company

Nissan

0.87

0.80

0.81

0.78

0.81

0.76

0.74

0.67

0.71

0.74

0.71

84

Mazda Motor Corporation

Mazda

0.92

0.80

0.74

0.78

0.80

0.55

0.68

0.71

0.76

0.76

0.67

88

Suzuki Motor Corporation

Suzuki

0.72

0.76

0.77

0.71

0.67

97

Volvo AB

Volvo

0.87

0.82

0.86

0.85

0.78

0.66

0.57

0.46

0.42

0.39

0.07

103

Daimler-Benz AG

Mercedes-Benz

0.87

0.88

0.86

0.88

0.90

0.69

0.66

0.58

0.63

0.58

0.43

109

BMW AG

BMW

0.85

0.91

0.74

0.53

0.76

0.74

0.71

0.55

0.43

116

Mitsubishi Motor Corporation

Mitsubishi

0.81

0.79

0.70

0.66

0.76

0.53

0.63

0.46

0.22

0.26

0.57

118

Hyundai Motor Company

Hyundai

0.01

0.00

122

Isuzu Motors Ltd.

Isuzu

0.79

0.70

0.34

0.42

0.35

0.27

125

Jaguar Cars Ltd.

Jaguar

0.49

0.41

127

Saab (50% owned by GM for most of period)

Saab

0.54

0.50

0.57

0.36

0.54

133

Volkswagen AG

Audi

0.57

0.52

0.17

140

Volkswagen AG

Volkswagen

0.35

0.14

0.13

0.10

0.11

0.09

146

Ford Motor Company

Lincoln

0.52

0.35

0.38

0.37

0.38

0.36

0.40

0.49

0.58

0.53

0.56

160

Ford Motor Company

Mercury

0.46

0.39

0.22

0.21

0.29

0.33

0.37

0.37

0.44

0.53

0.42

196

Ford Motor Company

Ford

0.26

0.29

0.20

0.27

0.31

0.40

0.46

0.53

0.57

0.58

0.54

206

General Motors Corporation

Buick

0.53

0.52

0.50

0.53

0.44

0.51

0.45

0.48

0.53

0.44

0.50

223

General Motors Corporation

GMC

0.36

0.42

0.36

0.43

0.48

0.36

0.47

0.44

0.27

0.18

0.11

229

General Motors Corporation

Cadillac

0.79

0.73

0.70

0.61

0.37

0.50

0.26

0.39

0.15

0.11

0.20

242

General Motors Corporation

Oldsmobile

0.52

0.39

0.42

0.46

0.40

0.42

0.38

0.24

0.36

0.22

0.37

247

General Motors Corporation

Saturn

0.47

0.44

0.58

0.67

0.62

0.60

0.52

0.58

279

General Motors Corporation

Chevrolet

0.35

0.39

0.33

0.35

0.33

0.32

0.39

0.37

0.27

0.24

0.26

291

General Motors Corporation

Pontiac

0.45

0.32

0.26

0.23

0.21

0.20

0.25

0.24

0.21

0.18

0.34

299

Chrysler Group

Jeep

0.59

0.37

0.27

0.51

0.73

0.36

0.32

0.43

0.37

0.43

0.38

304

Chrysler Group

Eagle

0.26

0.43

0.62

0.54

0.57

0.12

0.05

319

Chrysler Group

Chrysler

0.26

0.22

0.27

0.34

0.27

0.20

0.09

0.12

0.24

0.38

0.30

345

Chrysler Group

Dodge

0.34

0.29

0.24

0.30

0.25

0.25

0.19

0.24

0.25

0.34

0.34

359

Chrysler Group

Plymouth

0.27

0.26

0.25

0.26

0.16

0.21

0.14

0.14

0.08

0.27

0.09

Note that Hyundai Motor Company's early entries in the North American car market were not reliable at all. However, by model year 2009, the average Reliability GPA of Hyundai vehicles had leaped past that of the Detroit Three.

General Motors' brands that are now defunct are Oldsmobile, Saturn, and Pontiac. The Oldsmobile line was disposed of prior to GM's 2009 bankruptcy filing; the Saturn and Pontiac brands died in bankruptcy.

Chrysler Group brands that are now defunct are Eagle and Plymouth. Both died prior to Chrysler's 2009 bankruptcy filing.

Ford Motor Company retired its Mercury brand in late 2010.

Computation

For each model of each model year, each rated Consumer Reports trouble spot category (other than brakes or clutch) is given a numerical value as follows: +1 for a Much Better Than Average rating, +0.5 for a Better Than Average rating, 0 for an Average rating, -0.5 for a Worse Than Average rating, and -1 for a Much Worse Than Average rating. Then a simple average is taken for each model of a model year and the averages of the models for a given model year are placed on a scale of 0.00 to 1.00 using Microsoft's Percentrank function (akin to the percentile function). Then, for each model year, a simple average of the model Percentranks is taken to obtain the Reliability Percenrank Average for each line.

This volume of AutoOnInfo.net’s car guide series offers consumers and researchers an historical summary of the reliability and durability of car and truck brands and examines how these brands have fared in their U.S. market shares. It uses 6-year-old model entries in Consumer Reports’ Used Car to Avoid – also termed Vehicles to Avoid and Worst Cars, Year by Year – and CR’s reliability charts to ascribe quality grades to automobile brands for model-year groups 1985 to 1989, 1990 to 1994, 1995 to 1999, 2000 to 2004, 2005 to 2006, and 1985 to 2006. In addition to ascribing quality grades to each brand, it provides a chart that plots the number of the brand’s 6-year-old model entries in CR’s vehicles to avoid. To examine the effect that a brand’s reliability and durability has had on sales, two or more charts depicting the brand’s U.S. market shares for calendar years 1985 to 2009 are given. These grades and charts and the author’s comments impart an historical perspective that sheds light on the present condition of surviving vehicle lines and their future prospects, individual and institutional shortcomings, and what effect these may have on the U.S.

JB

The_50_Best_Cars_and_The_100_Worst_Cars_in_America_in_2013

Hard Copy Books by James Bleeker available on www.blurb.com

To the left are the icons of the hard copy editions of Volumes 2, 3, 4, and 5 of AutoOnInfo.net's Car Quality Series. To view a description of the book on blurb.com or purchase a copy, click the applicable icon.

JB

The_50_Best_Cars_and_The_100_Worst_Cars_in_America_in_2013

Kindle E-books by James Bleeker available on www.amazon.com

To the left are icons of the Kindle editions of Volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4, of AutoOnInfo.net's Car Quality Series. To view a description of the book on amazon.com or purchase a copy, click the applicable icon. To view all, click here.

JB

To the left is an icon of the Kindle edition of Volumes 5, 6, and 7 of AutoOnInfo.net's Car Quality Series. To view a description of the book on amazon.com or purchase a copy, click the applicable icon. To view all, click here.

JB

The_50_Best_Cars_and_The_100_Worst_Cars_in_America_in_2013

Pdf Editions of Books by James Bleeker available on www.scribd.com

To the left are icons of the pdf editions of Volumes 2, 4, and 5 of AutoOnInfo.net's Car Quality Series. To view a description of the book on scribd.com or download a copy, click the applicable icon. The pdf editions of Volumes 4 and 5 are available at no charge.

To the left are icons of the pdf editions of Volumes 6 and 7 of AutoOnInfo.net's Car Quality Series. To view a description of the book on scribd.com or download a copy, click the applicable icon. The pdf edition of Volume 7 is available at no charge. Volumes 6 and 7 have enhanced navigational capability as well as an improved page style.